First-time Champions: Deubrook Area

Winning a state championship is special, especially winning one for the first time.

It was that way last November when Waverly-South Shore’s high school football team completed a perfect season by winning the South Dakota state Class 9B title.

It was that way again Thursday when Deubrook Area put the finishing touches on its own perfect 12-0 season with a 25-22 win over Howard in the state Class 9AA championship game in the DakotaDome.

“It was just again a magical, phenomenal season,” said Deubrook Area head coach Adolph Shepardson.

The Dolphins, like many championship teams, accomplished so much in so many ways and with contributions from so many players.

Heading the list of contributors was 150-pound running back Ryan Knutson, one of eight seniors returning off a squad that went 8-3 in 2011 and advanced to the state Class 9AA semifinals for the first time.

Deubrook Area lost some key players off the squad, but had the foundation for a successful year in place.

The Dolphins, to the dismay of many Deubrook Area followers, never were No. 1-rated in the state Class 9AA poll. They were No. 2 most of the season behind two-time defending state champion Bridgewater-Emery-Ethan and stayed there when B-E-E fell in the rankings late in the year.

“There were a lot of people who kind of counted us out against Arlington (in the final regular-season game). They said we were going to lose,” said Deubrook Area junior lineman Clayton Dahl. “They said we were going to lose to Potter County in the quarterfinals and we came back and won in overtime. We just stuck together and came back, overcoming a 15-point halftime deficit against Gregory (in the semifinals) to get to the DakotaDome.”

Dahl’s reference to the almost magical playoff comebacks in the quarterfinals and semifinals was followed Thursday with a different type of performance.

Knutson capped his superb senior season with two long touchdown runs in the opening six minutes, propelling the Dolphins to what proved to be an insurmountable 25-6 halftime advantage against the Tigers.

Some programs, in all sports, are built through the years. Some programs are able to continue to enjoy success year after year, in part because of the tradition. For some, it’s easy to stay good after you get good. For others, it’s an uphill battle to get to the top.

It’s not as if Deubrook Area doesn’t have tradition. The school, which was formed by the consolidation of the Toronto and White districts in the late 1960s, has had its share of athletic success. Even the football program has had its share of successful seasons, just not a ton of playoff success.

That changed a bit last fall when Shepardson, a Sturgis native and former head coach at Sturgis, took over the program and guided the Dolphins to that first semifinal appearance. It ended with a painful setback at Kimball-White Lake.

The Dolphins didn’t quit and were rewarded Thursday.

“This is way up there,” said Knutson, when asked about how the state championship ranked along with long list of athletic accomplishments. “It feels very good to bring a state title back to the communities. And it’s the first one, so it’s just so exciting for us.”

Knutson was one of eight seniors on the Dolphins squad and nearly every one played an important role — quarterback Taylor Olsen, fullback-middle linebacker Tyler Jensen, center Michael Goens, guard-defensive end Dallas Murphy, tight end-defensive end Cory Byers and reserves Josh Kruse and Derek Kjenstad.

Dahl and his classmates also did their part including newcomer Kay Glatzer, a foreign-exchange student from Germany. He kicked two extra-point kicks and a 22-yard field goal — which proved to be the game-winner — and also had a solid game at linebacker on Thursday.

Shepardson said Glatzer’s folks were back in Germany watching the game over the internet.

“He’s an American football player, he played fullback in Germany,” said Shepardson. “We asked him to play outside linebacker and kick for us and he did those two things extremely well.”

The Dolphins will be honored today (Friday) in White with the Dolphin National Football Celebration night starting with a free meal — the food was donated by an anonymous donor — at 4:30 p.m. in the school lunchroom in White.

A celebration for the team will be held at 5 p.m., shortly before Shepardson must head back to Vermillion to receive a coaching honor from the South Dakota Football Coaches Association.

Dolphin fans hope he makes a safe return.

“We’ve got a good youth program going, we run a spring clinic for the kids. We have 34 kids on the roster and only eight seniors, so we’re going to have 20 some kids back with eight or nine moving up,” said Shepardson. “We have some good athletes, some great players coming back and our goal isn’t going to change. We expect to be there right in the mix every year.”

Sure, winning for the first time is extra special. So is winning again. And again.

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